62
AK8653
75
AK10

AQ8
74
AKQJ104
72

The contract is 6 diamonds. Your partner opened 1H, you bid 3D, and Lefty stuck in a 3S bid. Just so you would know that the spade finesse is not going to work.

Speaking of things going wrong, West opens the 8, depriving you of an entry to dummy for your hearts. There is the old duck-a-round of hearts, but if the opps then return a club you are back to needing a 3-2 heart break.

So, of course play to make if hearts are 3-2, but what if they are 4-1? What are you going to do when Lefty shows out on the second round of hearts.

The answer is complex; Pottage has this problem near the end of his book and lists it as one of his favorite problems. So there is a simpler question -- what do you do if the 8 is changed into the 9.

62
AK8653
75
AK10

AQ8
74
AKQJ104
72

With AQ9 of spades, you have the basic spade endplay situation. If you can come down to the end and Lefty and you have 3 spades, you can lead a spade from the board. If Righty plays low, you play the 9 and Lefty is endplayed. If Righty plays the 10 or J, you cover with the queen. Lefty can win the K, but then is endplayed into lead a spade into your A9.

Can you come down to this ending situation? Can you run a squeeze-trim-endplay? Lefty is vulnerable in spades. Assuming Lefty has only 1 heart, his only exit suit is clubs. You have a loser count of two and still one club control. So it is an easy matter of running your diamonds and hearts, coming down to

62
--
--
K10

AQ8
--
--
7 If Lefty has two clubs and two spades, you duck a spade to set up a spade trick. If Lefy has three spades and one club, you trim the club and run your endplay.

That essentially ends the discussion of the squeeze-trim-endplay. But I will deal with what you might be able to do if you have the 8. I think the basic answer is that you run the squeeze-trim-endplay anyway. You hope that Righty does not have a spade higher than the either -- Lefty started with AJ109. Or, if Righty has two spades but only one is higher than the eight, you hope that Righty does not play the honor when you lead a spade.

There is a third hope. If Lefty started with AJ107x but not the 9 of spades, then Lefty is one-suit squeezed. If his last three cards are AJ10, then he is endplayed even if his partner plays the 9. And if he pitches the J or 10, that essentially promotes your 8 to the 9 and you can run the endplay you always wanted to run.

So the squeeze-trim-endplay has a few possibilities. I think that rates it the best option. But there is one more possibility. If you come down to

2
8
--
K10

AQ8
--
--
7 and if Righty has two of the spades greater than the 8, Righty is "mole-squeezed". Right has to save two clubs, to protect against the 10 of clubs, and Righty has to save a heart, to protect against the heart in the dummy. So Righty can save only one spade.

Of course, if Righty started with something like 10x in spades, you will sorry you forced Righty to pitch his small spade. You had the hope that he would play the x when you lead towards your hand, but that hope is gone after you squeezed the x out of him.

However, if Righty started with two spades higher than the 8, you have squeezed one of them out of his hand. That promotes your eight to the rank of the 9 and your endplay works fine -- you lead a spade, you cover Righty's honor with your queen, and Lefty is endplayed.

Your choice -- it probably depends on the quality of your opponents.

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